Use Microsoft Word's Copilot to Draft and Improve Archival Writing

What This Does

Microsoft Word's Copilot can draft sections of long archival documents (grant proposals, finding aids, policy manuals) from your bullet-point notes, and can rewrite existing text to improve clarity, adjust length, or change tone. If your institution uses Microsoft 365, this feature may already be available to you.

Before You Start

• Microsoft Word is installed (Microsoft 365 version, not standalone Office 2019/2021)
• You're signed in with a Microsoft 365 account that includes Copilot (available on Microsoft 365 Business plans and some Education licenses)
• You have a document open, either a blank one or an existing draft

Steps

1. Open Copilot in Word

Open Microsoft Word and create a new document, or open an existing finding aid or grant draft.

Click the Copilot button in the Home ribbon (it looks like a small sparkle/star icon), or press Alt + I on Windows.

What you should see: A Copilot panel or floating dialog appears. If you don't see the button, your Microsoft 365 plan may not include Copilot; check with your IT department.

2. Draft new content from your notes

In the Copilot dialog, type a prompt describing what you want written. Example for a finding aid scope note:

"Write a scope and content note for an archival finding aid. The collection belongs to the [institution name] and contains records from [organization/person name], [date range]. Contents include [list]. Follow DACS standards for archival description. About 200 words."

Click Generate or press Enter.

What you should see: Copilot generates a draft in the document. You'll see it appear with a dotted border, waiting for you to accept, discard, or modify.

3. Accept, edit, or regenerate

If the draft looks good, click Keep it or press Enter to insert it into your document.

If it needs adjustment, type a follow-up instruction in Copilot: "Make it shorter" / "Change the tone to be more accessible for general audiences" / "Add more detail about the correspondence series."

What you should see: Copilot revises the content based on your follow-up.

4. Improve existing text with Copilot

Select existing text in your document (highlight it), then click the Copilot icon that appears above the selection.

Choose from options like Rewrite, Make shorter, Make longer, or type a custom instruction: "Rewrite this paragraph to avoid archival jargon."

Troubleshooting: If Copilot suggestions don't appear on selected text, try clicking the Copilot button in the ribbon and pasting the text you want improved into the Copilot panel.

Real Example

Scenario: You're writing an IMLS grant application and need a 400-word project description by end of day. You have bullet points but haven't started writing.

What you type into Copilot: "Write a 400-word project narrative for an IMLS grant application. Project: process and digitize the [name] collection at [institution]. Public benefit: historians and genealogists researching [topic]. Timeline: 18 months. Collection: 45 linear feet of correspondence, photographs, and administrative records, 1920–1975. Institution has one FTE archivist and grant experience."

What you get: A full 400-word project description draft you can review, edit for specifics, and submit in the same afternoon.

Tips

• Copilot works best when you give it a clear format requirement ("400 words," "3 paragraphs," "bulleted list of 5 items"), not just "write something about X"
• Always check dates, names, and institutional facts; Copilot confidently produces plausible-sounding errors in specific details
• Save your bullet notes as a separate document so you can re-run Copilot if the first draft misses something important

Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.